African Tech Roundup Podcast

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The South African Reserve Bank Is Warming Up To Blockchain Technology Feb 14, 2017

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The continent's two most prominent central banks-- the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), have decidedly different attitudes towards the notion of adopting virtual currencies. While the CBN has recently warned the country's financial institutions and citizens that virtual currencies are not legal tender, the SARB has displayed a willingness to emulate Tunisia by launching a blockchain-based digital version of the South African Rand. With bitcoin showing signs of maturing into a legitimate asset class, central banks the world over are grappling with a very real fear of missing out on the cryptocurrency wave. The surf's up, it seems. Also in this week's African Tech Round-up is a chat with Alison Treadaway, director and shareholder of the South African eBilling and eMarketing software and services company, Striata. Alison unpacks the noble aims of South Africa's imminent enaction of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI). She highlights some of the pain points that this ground-breaking piece of legislation is expected to address-- gaps that other African countries will no doubt seek to plug through passing personal data laws of their own. Music Credits: Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution

The Tech Minute 08-02-2017 Feb 08, 2017

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In this Tech Minute, Brian Lupiya gives the lowdown on an impressive large-scale green project in Cape Town, South Africa and touches on two other leading stories from the latest African Tech Round-up podcast. Music credit: Muzikid

Lionel Chmilewsky of Cambridge Broadband Networks is bullish on multipoint microwave tech Feb 06, 2017

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Lionel Chmilewsky is the CEO of Cambridge Broadband Networks (CBNL), a UK-based, privately-held multipoint microwave tech firm which has an impressive client list that includes seven of the world’s top ten mobile operators-- among them, African biggies like MTN and Vodacom. Lionel shares insights on the state of play on the continent’s wireless network scene, and explains why recent advances in multipoint microwave tech are potentially game-changing.

Internet Blackout Persists In Anglophone Cameroon Feb 06, 2017

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The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon are probably still celebrating their win against The Pharaohs of Egypt in the AFCON final. How ironic that roughly 20% of the Central African country’s population was unable to celebrate their national team’s win on social media thanks to the government’s ongoing broadband blackout following anti-government protests in the north-west and south-west regions of that country. No doubt some Cameroonians-- particularly the tech heads who make up the nation’s “Silicon Mountain” community, might even now gladly give up the country's recently won AFCON trophy if it meant getting their internet back. Increasingly, many African governments cannot be trusted not to tamper with public access to the web. With disturbing frequency, citizens across the continent are cut off without notice whenever their governments' interests are threatened. The unfortunate truth is that for the average African, the concept of internet access as a human right is a myth. As for the concept of net neutrality, a moment of silence, please... This week’s African Tech Round-up features a chat with Lionel Chmilewsky. Lionel is the CEO of Cambridge Broadband Networks (CBNL), a UK-based privately-held multipoint microwave tech firm which has an impressive client list that includes seven of the world’s top ten mobile operators-- among them, African biggies like MTN and Vodacom. Lionel shares insights on the state of play on the continent’s wireless network scene, and explains why recent advances in multipoint microwave tech are potentially game-changing. Music Credits: Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution

The Tech Minute 01-02-2017 Feb 01, 2017

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Got a minute? This brisk, energetic podcast presented by Brian Lupiya delivers the top three digital, tech and innovation stories featured in the latest episode of the African Tech Round-up (AfricanTechRoundup.com). Music credit: Brian Lupiya

Kwesé TV Poised To Give DStv A Haircut Jan 30, 2017

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Africa's 'high-end' VOD scene is hotting up, and for home-grown heavies, ShowMax and Kwesé, the race to achieving critical mass is on. ShowMax is on the prowl for mobile telco partners that can help it hack growth while leveraging the enviable stash of international licensed content that its mothership, DStv, has in its vault. Meanwhile, Kwesé has the benefit of being part of the Econet Group-- a huge potential advantage in that they might exploit Econet's established mobile distribution network. With Econet's Chairman Strive Masiyiwa promising that Kwesé will launch 60 channels across no less than 18 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, it's quite clear that the network's "mobile-centric" strategy will not be limited to carving out a decent share of the mobile VOD market, and so DStv could well be due for a haircut. This week's African Tech Round-up features a chat with Nzwisisa Chidembo, a programmer, business analyst and author of new book called Exploring Consumer Adoption of NFC Mobile Payments in South Africa which unpacks research done into why South Africans haven’t taken to mobile payments as readily as consumers in other countries on the continent. Music Credits: Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution

The Tech Minute 24-01-2017 Jan 24, 2017

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Mastercard Launches 2KUZE Agtech Marketplace For Farmers In East Africa Jan 23, 2017

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Several well-respected voices we featured on the show last year predicted that we would see some major agtech plays happen in 2017. Sure enough, Mastercard made headlines last week for launching a digital marketplace platform called 2KUZE which connects smallholder farmers, agents, buyers and banks in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The app allows farmers to buy, sell and receive payments for agricultural products via their feature phones. If this initiative works half as well as we hope it will, it should make a heck of a difference to small-scale farmers looking to sell their produce to the right buyers more efficiently and at the best possible prices. This week's African Tech Round-up features a conversation Andile Masuku had with Katherine Liew. Katherine is the Head of Digital Disruption at Barclays Africa. Given what's fixing to be an exciting year for fintech on the continent, he was keen to tap Katherine's mind to get a sense of how one the continent's largest banking incumbents is going about keeping up with the frantic pace of innovation within the financial services industry. Music Credits: Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution

Fintech News Dominates Holiday Headlines + Insights From CES 2017 Jan 18, 2017

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The team at the African Tech Round-up has returned from the Festive break, and so we’re officially back to our normal programming. At the tail-end of this episode, Andile Masuku chats with Nicholus Steward, founder and CEO of the Swazi Bridge Project. He attended the world’s biggest tech show, CES 2017 in Las Vegas two weeks ago, and he’ll be sharing insights he gleaned from the event. We’re also catching up on some biggest stories that broke while we were on holiday, including Standard Bank acquiring Firepay— the company behind the SnapScan payments app, the George Soros-backed VC, Leapfrog raising $800 million to invest in Africa's finance scene, and the Nigerian fintech startup, Paystack, closing a $1.3 million seed investment round involving Tencent, Comcast Ventures and Singularity Investments. There's no doubt about it, folks. Fintech is definitely a hot ticket at the moment! Music Credits: Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution

Discussing Inclusive Value Chains With Simon Carpenter of SAP Africa Jan 09, 2017

Show notes

We are one week away from returning to our regular coverage of the week’s biggest digital, tech and innovation headlines, once the team at the African Tech Round-up returns from the Festive break. This week's show features yet another sneak preview of Season 6 of the African Tech Conversations series. Andile Masuku chats with Simon Carpenter, Chief Technology Officer at SAP Africa. With 2017 well and truly underway, Andile finds out what innovation trend Simon is most excited about. Music Credits: Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution

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